1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the releasable storage of mechanical energy wherein a fluid, acting through the intermediary of one or more dimensionally variable solid plates or partitions or platforms or interfaces, transfers force to one or more resilient members in a manner that results in the pressure within the fluid remaining substantially constant across a spectrum of deformation of the resilient members, as measured when fluid flow is halted.
2. Prior Art
Devices and methods in the prior art of mechanical energy storage and dispensing, using one or more resilient members, may be divided into two general classes: those using springs, and those using gases. In either case, required input force and available output force are proportional to resilient member strain. For example, a spring requiring 50 pounds of applied force to compress it by half will require 100 pounds of force to fully compress it. Compressed gases behave similarly, except that temperature is a more relevant factor than in springs.
The above facts, embodied partly in Hooke's Law of proportionality of stress and strain, result in a problem in the prior art. Ignoring the issue of hysteresis, a relatively minor problem (on the macro level) common to both the prior art and the present invention, the main problem in the prior art is that input and output energies of a spring are each dynamic, beginning at one extreme and ending at the other. Thus, for example, if one wishes to use a spring-based mechanism to dispense a stored fluid at a constant flow rate K substantially throughout the term of expansion of the spring, in the prior art this has not been possible except to a limited degree, as when using a variable-size output aperture. But aperture control presents its own problem set. To work, the aperture must dynamically adjust as the spring expands, and must therefore have a way of being made to correspond with that expansion. Further, temperature changes may become a significant issue for a variable aperture.
Other prior art responses to these problems have included hydraulic force multipliers, reducers, and overflow and bypass valves, all of which are, for the most part, digital rather than analog remedies, generally falling short of matching input force to realtime force requirements, but the present invention addresses these issues by being truly dynamic.
The inadequacy of the above prior art response problems has serious consequences for national and global energy storage and conservation objectives. For example, considerable energy waste results from conversion of solar energy to its ultimate storage in a battery; similarly wasteful is pumped storage, used by electric utilities during low grid demand to raise a volume of water to a height for later use; both of these examples are highly inefficient energy storage and conservation methods when compared with simple present invention storage.
In the prior art are shock absorbers for aircraft, watercraft, buildings, trains, bridges, and ground vehicles, to name but a few of their uses. These most commonly assume the character of a spring, confined gas, or confined hydraulic fluid with valves to slow release of fluid, or combinations thereof, their general purpose being to damp vibration and oscillation.
However, under some circumstances, a more decisive return to state may be desirable, e.g., as when seeking to firmly and quickly return a tire to the road surface from which it has bounced. The prior art is unable to do both at the same time, i.e., at once damping and promoting response, but the present invention meets these desirable and useful goals.
The prior art has various ways of dispensing pressurized liquids and gases which have been stored in containers for such purpose. Most commonly, gases in this context are pumped into a container at elevated pressure and dispensed by opening a valve, as in the case of an oxygen tank. However, this results in gradual loss of output and valve aperture or diaphragm adjustments must be made.
In addition to these problems of fluid dispensers in the prior art, the use of spray cans in nearly all forms presents serious environmental hazards. The most commonly used propellants are known atmospheric pollutants and include volatile hydrocarbons such as propane, n-butane, isobutane, dimethyl ethers, methyl ethyl ether; cooking sprays and whipped cream use nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide as propellants; medical aids for asthma and emphysema sufferers use hydrofluoroalkanes as propellants. All contribute significantly to some combination of acid rain, global warming, oncogenesis, or general pollution, and all can be replaced by an appropriately designed embodiment of the present invention.
The prior art features fuel pumps, oil pumps, and other pumps for various purposes, and includes those which are electrical or spring driven. Electrical pumps, which to the unaided eye provide fluid flow at a constant rate, but which on closer observation are intermittent according the waveform of the underlying current, are only useful as long as there is electrical supply; when electrical supply fails, the pump fails. For reasons earlier discussed, spring-driven pumps of the prior art cannot provide flow at a constant rate. Thus, these pump types are either not consistently reliable or cannot provide flow at a constant rate, whereas the present invention is reliable and does provide flow at an analogically constant rate.
Moreover, prior art fuel and oil pumps often comprise dozens of parts, many of them moving parts, leading to complex, maintenance-intensive, and thus failure-prone apparatuses, whereas the present invention generally has only a few parts subject to movement.
In aircraft and spacecraft, fuel and lubrication delivery at constant rates is often literally a matter of life and death, and always a matter of money, considering the cost of failure. In severe turbulence, on takeoff or descent, and under certain other negative or positive acceleration circumstances, a fuel pump may temporarily fail to deliver needed amounts of fuel. Freezing temperatures may also adversely affect pump performance. Further, it is common to have at least two pumps for fuel delivery: one a low pressure pump to deliver fuel to an engine, and another within the engine itself to raise the fuel to a much higher pressure before delivery into the can, or combustion chamber. These are serious issues for aircraft and spacecraft, for all of which the present invention offers sound solutions.
Drug delivery apparatuses in the prior art for inpatient and outpatient use require great precision of dosage delivery, whether the drug is oxygen, a gas used in a surgical setting, or a drug in liquid form. Though in some instances gas stored in cylinders continues as the gaseous source, there has been wide adoption of electrical gas pumps. Liquid drug delivery of a temporary nature is done using a bag of the drug suspended above the site of introduction into a patient, but longer term liquid drug administration, particularly in outpatients, is accomplished using a battery-operated pump.
In the surgical setting, if gas cylinders are used, the aperture controls must be carefully monitored during the course of surgery to ensure appropriate dosages; or, if gas arrives from a central location outside the surgery, this still requires an infrastructure of equipment and personnel to ensure flow at a constant rate.
All of the above approaches to drug delivery have their problems: batteries are bulky, decline in power over time and thus result in undesirable dosage modification, may interfere with electrically-driven cardiac appliances, and present environmental hazards of manufacture and disposal; drip IVs reduce dosage as time passes, due to decreased fluid depth (head); direct IVs pose a risk of introducing air into a blood vessel, forming an embolism, more dangerously so if it is a central IV or one entering above the patient's shoulder level, and; regulation of gas cylinder output requires constant attention. All of these are problems which the present invention solves.
In the prior art, certain cardiac conditions are commonly addressed by use of one of a variety of blood pumps. Though truly remarkable, the technology has its shortcomings. A key problem is that these pumps have a tendency to destroy red blood cells and platelets, the clot-forming cells. The pumps may be installed internally or worn externally. Both require battery power: those installed internally have a coupling extending outside the body for recharging. The need for frequent recharging limits the time during which the patient, especially the outpatient, is free to move about. An embodiment of the present invention offers a complete solution to the problem of cell destruction, and a partial solution to the problem of battery recharging.
Service station fuel pumps are electrically operated, posing a slight but real fire hazard; they are also complex and expensive to maintain. The present invention could be used to resolve these issues.
Scientific and research uses for pumps and shock absorbers in the prior art cover a range from macroscale to nanoscale applications. Competent measurements and procedures at all scales often depend on having minimal chatter from pump equipment. Fluid turbulence is produced by all pumps in the prior art, with the exception of those which are spring-driven or driven by compressed gas, and such turbulence can create computational nightmares for researchers, and the exceptions just noted suffer from earlier discussed issues. These problems are, in the case of chatter, fully resolved by the present invention and, in the case of turbulent flow, greatly reduced.
In research, computation of energies received by shock absorbing devices depends on the sensitivity of the devices themselves and on reproducibility of shock events, the latter being virtually impossible to exactly reproduce with the prior art, whereas the present invention can not only be designed for great sensitivity but can be audited with great accuracy after a shock event as a test against original data by simply allowing it to return to its ground state while measuring fluid output and controlling for hysteresis.
As can be seen from the foregoing, shock absorbers and pumps in the prior art are used in many and varied settings, only a few of which have been so far mentioned by way of example and not limitation as to present invention application. The prior art's relationship, or lack thereof, to the present invention and its scope should therefore be judged by the appended drawings and claims and their legal and equitable equivalents.
In the prior art, tires lose pressure as they lose air; they also gain or lose pressure as temperature changes. Tires are designed for an optimal air pressure; non-optimal pressures adversely alter performance characteristics, safety, fuel mileage, and ride comfort. Use of one or more embodiments of the present invention can maintain constant pressure and prevent pressure alterations.